“When you have half the community saying, ‘This is an atrocity,’ and then you have another half defending it saying, ‘Oh, it was supposed to be a joke,’ that’s an easy way for something to get lost in translation,” said Taylor, an African-American.

Calls for firings

The white teachers instruct in a school with a student body that is 55 percent Hispanic or Latino and 44.6 percent black or African-American, according to the New York State Education Department.

One teacher on leave has taught at the district for 20 years, the other two teachers have taught within the district for two or three years, Taylor told NBC, and said the teachers could be fired for conduct unbecoming a teacher and lose their teaching licenses.

Several people have called for the the dismissal of the teacher or teachers responsible, including Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen.

“This imagery that was on display in a Roosevelt Middle School classroom is undoubtedly racist and should not be tolerated in our Town, or any other community,” Gillen said in a statement. “The imagery is also deeply insensitive and troubling to anyone with mental health issues and those contemplating suicide.”

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton also weighed in saying, “A middle school on Long Island displayed two nooses with the tag ‘back to school necklaces.’ It’s more than ‘racially offensive.’ It’s racist and sickening.”

Like All the Moms?

Connect with us on Facebook.

READ MORE:

Nanny convicted of murder, child abuse for force-feeding a baby to death

Another top group calls for spanking ban, says it harms kids’ mental health

Depression in pregnant women and new moms is preventable, experts say. Here’s how